[SGVLUG] OT: Why aren't there more women in tech?

[Rae Yip]

Correlation? I'd like to know how you measure "scientific aptitude".

I would definitely contest any claims of causation. Any "Brain Sex"
effects on different reasoning skills are very likely outweighed by
sociological factors, when it comes to measurable "real-world"
observations like %age of engineering PhDs (some stats are actually
improving with time).

It's a fallacy to think women aren't good with Science and Tech just
because there are fewer of them working in those fields.

Let's not pretend we are doing any favours to Science by griping about
people's sensitivity to this topic.  I have no problems with actual
scientific research into the subject, but discussing how somebody
might or might not be less gifted than you (no matter how obliquely)
is poor taste (especially without data to back it up, but even with
it), and it's reasonable to avoid doing so in public forum.

I do encourage discussion of how to make SVGLUG a more friendly
environment to people of all genders. BTW, everyone has read this
HOWTO, right?

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Encourage-Women-Linux-HOWTO/

-Rae.

On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 10:39 AM, John Kreznar <jek at ininx.com> wrote:
> In a message purporting to be from "juanslayton @dslextreme.com"
> <juanslayton at dslextreme.com> but lacking a digital signature, it is
> written:
>
>> ... My daughter (Rebecca Marie Slayton) took her PhD at Harvard, but
>> did most of her hands-on research at MIT. ... she has occasionally
>> been the recipient of condescending treatment by male colleagues.  And
>> by the media, which is a source of particular irritation.  Things are
>> getting better, but it's still gonna take time.
>
> Still, to deny the likelihood of a correlation between gender and
> science aptitude, just as there is between most pairs of measurements of
> human individuals, is, as Dustin says, to bend science.  Politically
> correct, yes; true, not necessarily.
>
>> I think the more serious question is, "Why aren't there more of
>> _anybody_ going into tech?"  Nobody is going to get brownie points for
>> scientific ignorance.
>
> Yep.  Technical illiteracy has to go the way of illiteracy in natural
> language.  Illiterates simply cannot cope in the modern world.
>
> --
> OpenPGP key: http://ininx.com
>  John E. Kreznar jek at ininx.com 9F1148454619A5F08550 705961A47CC541AFEF13
>
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